(EXCLUSIVE) Interview with Bailey Ives Coppola

By Michele Diomà

I am very pleased and honored today to present a special interview to the entire WILD FILMMAKER Community! For the first time on our Magazine, we have Bailey Ives Coppola, a young actor I discovered years ago when I watched Sammy & Quinn, directed by Christopher Coppola, and whom I had the pleasure of admiring just a few months ago at the Cannes Film Festival in the latest masterpiece of cinema history, Megalopolis.

-Who is Bailey Ives Coppola?

In acronym: B:allistic A:nnihilator I:ntroverted L:urid E:nergetic Y:ankee

I:nquiring V:olumetric E:ntertainer S:undried

C:ertified O:dd P:ersonable P:urpose O:nly L:ove A:lways

I am an enigma to myself. I don’t expect this to ever change.  I don’t like to define myself based on my earthly existence. Although, I am not necessarily religious or spiritual or atheist or agnostic. The same goes with Solipsism and nihilism. I find it hard to subscribe to anything
Of man or man made. I have tremendous appreciation for the cycles of creation and destruction within human history. So whichever side of the coin it lands there I lie. I believe i am fated and fixed in my free will.

Who is Bailey?

An honest fellow who is ready to defend what he cares about the most being his family and his country at any cost but is never put to the test. They say he has a big heart.

-Which artists have inspired you the most?

From the get go anything by Dr. Seuss and P.D. Eastman. Green eggs and ham and Go Dog Go.

Coming of age: Orwell and Huxley. 1984 and brave new world.

Actors: Brando and Bogart.

-I know that besides being an actor, you also love painting. Do you think art can save the world?

Art has always saved and will continue to save the human soul which depicts the world as it is and as it should be. But sometimes it’s good to let it all burn ❤️‍🔥 like the Renoir painting in the 1988 film Stars And Bars.

-What makes you happy, and what really makes you angry?

A fastfood restaurant open late at night. A cold beer on a Wednesday. Finding the last item on the shelf. Long distance laughter.

Many machinations of the mind make me angry. They say righteous anger is justifiable. But now I think anger cannot come from love so better to love your enemy and even yourself which can be harder.

-You worked on Megalopolis, the film of the year. How was your experience?

It was incredible just to be on and around set let alone having a part in the flick which is the biggest of my life thus far. It was a fantastic learning experience in control and cooperation. A real dance of the demons as the character Huey is lost in his own manifesto. It was a great pleasure to have finally worked with FFC as his legend of artistic importance had always been made known to me my whole life in America and traveling across the globe.

(EXCLUSIVE) Interview with Sabrina Bogado

-Who is Sabrina Bogado?

Sabrina bogado is a Film Director, executive producer and scriptwriter from Brazil. She is a mother of Iara and Lucas, two teenagers, and works for the Media industry for over 25 years. She owns Levante Films. a female producer who has been in Brazil for 18 years making animation, documentaries and fiction.

-What has been the greatest difficulty you faced in producing your project?

Making films as a South American woman is always a challenge. not only facing political and economic instabilities, but also due to relationships with the feminine such as motherhood. Of course, overcoming all is about the passion and love for cinema, that made me build a solid company like Levante Filmes is. At this moment I’m filming the most challenging project I’ve ever made. First of all, because I have been work on it  for almost all my life. “Behind the story”  is a documentary about the founder of Copa Libertadores, who was a secret police officer in Brazil until the Second World War and who was my great-grandfather. I grew up listening to my grandmother’s stories about him and have been investigating the character for over 20 years. Directing a film that I am emotionally attached to is undoubtedly fascinating and frightening at the same time.

-Do you think the film industry today has been damaged by political correctness?

Ethics has been discussed since ancient Greece. But the commitment of its expression is born and developed throughout the individual’s life. No one should demand political correctness if human nature was committed to this attitude. It would only be natural. And I am talking about ethos, not moral because moral is learned. Cinema is a very completed art, it lets almost all senses to be used during your spectator experience. So, the nature of the film speeches often becomes very evident. Any forced attempt at values ​​ends up becoming too clear for those who have a critical sense. And finally, the exhibitions and narratives becomes also a thermometer and a document about generational positions and the ethics of  individuals who produced them. So, I don’t think you can force political correctness, but calling attention to these singularities allows the perception of others to be refined. A plural, diverse, democratic narrative should be natural for those who respect and made art. Any attempt to force it will always highlight the fragility of the act and the film itself.

-What was the greatest source of inspiration for creating your project?

The life. The experiences I live, the relationships that i have been stablished with people and mainly the exercise of empathy about  those situations of social and cultural fragility and peculiarity. I believe that making films is giving the opportunity to produce a sensitive point of view for different cultures and I always tried to compromise the most faithful way Possible to the realities I have experienced, primarily when we talk about different realities that not everyone has access to known and experienced.

-If you could ask a question to a great director from the past, who would you like to talk to and what would you ask them?

I always wanted to ask Tarkovsky the secret of sustaining such long and at the same time so expressive silences in his films. But maybe even he couldn’t give me that answer.

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(EXCLUSIVE) Interview with Samantha Casella

-What has been the greatest difficulty you faced in producing your project?

I think it is very difficult to find productions company willing to produce the genre of my films. I consider myself lucky. The Shadows Factory met my demands and respected my vision. In hindsight, the greatest difficulty was taking care of the direction, photography and acting in such a complex role.

-Do you think the film industry today has been damaged by political correctness?

Absolutely yes, but the worst thing is that this system is obtuse and hinders anyone who dares to question them.

-What was the greatest source of inspiration for creating your project?

My films are all very personal. Making “Katabasis” was for me an existence, a necessity. Of course, I am very interested in the theme of abuse, but I did not want to show a woman as a victim. The protagonist is on one hand dependent on the abuse she suffers, but a part of her is also abusive, indecipherable, willing to do anything to survive. Within certain limits all the characters in the film suffer and impart abuse. It is society that pushes in this direction.

-If you could ask a question to a great director from the past, who would you like to talk to and what would you ask them?

My first cinematic love was Ingmar Bergman. So, sure, I would have liked to talk to him. First of all, I would like to ask him if he has made peace with God.

-What do you think of the Wild Filmmaker platform?

I think it’s pure oxygen. A very important point of reference for those who work in independent cinema. I think it’s becoming a reality and it is destined to grow up more and more.

(EXCLUSIVE) Interview with Sheldon Armstrong

-What has been the greatest difficulty you faced in producing your project?

I think in all film productions you are going to have hiccups…I was told that it’s an actual miracle that any films are ever made due to so many people having to be involved. For me I’d say, trying to realize my vision with no real budget. The major set piece in my film, the robbery at the art gallery, was done in the recording studio using sound effects and the actors performing their lines in a booth.

-Do you think the film industry today has been damaged by political correctness?

I don’t think the current political climate has affected the film industry. I think the lack of good story-telling has damaged the film industry. Interesting characters doing interesting things has always sold, and I think us as filmmakers have to have the courage to tell the stories we want to tell. If that means lower budgets…then we tell smaller, more intimate stories.

-What was the greatest source of inspiration for creating your project?

I love the 90s style neo-noir films, that’s what I grew up watching and when I think of films that I want to produce…this style, these themes are on the forefront of my mind. 

-If you could ask a question to a great director from the past, who would you like to talk to and what would you ask them?

I am a huge fan of Stanley Kubrick and I would love to just pick his brain on scene blocking, set piece design…basically his method for filmmaking. 

-What do you think of the Wild Filmmaker platform?

Wild Filmmaker is an amazing platform for independent artists and filmmakers. Such a great resource to be introduced to films and filmmakers that you might not otherwise. Forever grateful to have found this platform.

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